A Hero Emerges
by lalunaticscribe
Summary: Or, where someone may be trying to summon an Earthbound Immortal in NY again while certain Signers are due to visit... chaos ensues. May involve OCs. Also available on AO3
1. Chapter 1

_**A Hero Emerges**_

_**An LLS Production**_

* * *

Flames erupted from it, burning bright and hot, and rushed towards Jack. They engulfed him before he even had a chance to dodge. That fireball had been hot enough to melt steel. The average human being would have been cooked to a crisp.

"So ends the career of an illustrious Duelist," the caster of the fire murmured. "Ah, well, I suppose he would have wanted to go out in a blaze of glory."

The flames died down, leaving only a haze of thick smoke where the carpet had been singed. The other started to turn away, not particularly wanting to see what was left of the man, but then he stopped.

Something in the cloud was moving...

"Where are _you_ going?" Jack was still standing. His riding suit was smouldering slightly, but otherwise he seemed to be perfectly unharmed. There was a strange red light playing over him, flickering on his skin and glowing in his eyes.

The other immediately stepped back. "What the hell are you?" he exclaimed.

Jack stalked slowly towards him. "It's a long story," he answered, his voice dangerously calm. "It involves a few gods of death and their tendency to make deals with mortals about to die. But there was one god, that no one was ever willing to bargain with. One that was so powerful that no one had the courage to try to contain it. No one but me."

"You... you're one of them?" the other exclaimed. "The Dark Signers...?"

"Don't be ridiculous," said Jack. "I'm not possessed by the god. Possession happens when a stronger soul overwhelms a weaker one. This is the power of my Burning Soul. _I'm_ not possessed by the god. It's possessed by _me_."

The other slowly stepped back, unwilling to run, but also unwilling to fight before this intense aura. He had felt a lot of auras in his time. He had never felt one like this. He gave a strangled little squeak. "Is it too late to surrender?" he heard himself saying.

Jack smiled, and the fire around him burned brighter. "Too late."

* * *

The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division's Director Nicholas Joseph Fury, or Nick Fury as he was more commonly known as – by not a lot of people, given his extremely high security clearance – was... a rather considerable entity of unique temperament. That was the only way to summarise it. Considering the man's rather long and illustrious career, including but not limited to helping to stop an alien invasion of sorts led by a Norse god, there were probably a lot of things that did not make it to his shit list.

"What do you mean, it's not important?" was Fury's scowl. "World heritage sites do not disappear off the face of the earth and relocate themselves at whim!"

Commander Maria Hill did not respond immediately. "They did not relocate themselves anywhere around the United States, sir, and it was an ocean away. SHIELD intelligence placed it as low-priority information."

"Not that," Fury snorted. "It was what, about ten, eleven years ago, and I was never alerted of this why?"

"You were distracted by Iron Man," Maria simply replied. "It was low-priority, sir."

"And the only reason I found out that the friggin' Nazca Lines were relocating is because it _may_ be happening again?"

"Yes, sir."

"And now it could envelop the whole of Manhattan," Fury sighed. "Whatever it is, get me a link to it. Any weird sightings could be linked to that."

"Sir, there was a sighting of a man on fire."

"Right. I want a file on the man on my table in six hours. Get the Avengers on standby too. If this is another stunt like Loki, we're going to have to be prepared."

"Roger."

As Maria left, Nick looked at the next report. Some great gaudy idiot of a shark god terrorising the Hawaiian islands, obviously let into the world by someone with more power than sense... "Because they're evil, and people will be stupid, but they don't deserve to die," he sardonically muttered at the report. "This job isn't worth this shit sometimes."

* * *

It was a placid summer morning, all was well in the newly established three-member Fudo family, and then Aki Izayoi held up the envelope. "Tenth letter this week. You might want to take him up on that offer."

Fudo Yusei did not look up from where his own son was giving the eyes to both parents over rice. "Mr Stark again?"

"He seems really desperate," Aki added.

"Yes, the number of letters he actually mailed, on top of email, _did_ attest to that."

"Between Momentum and the arc reactors, he did really seem serious," Aki observed.

"Aki. It's not about patents again," Yusei murmured. "It's... well, I'm kind of held up with Ryuusei, in case you haven't noticed. And what with Diana-san dropping Setsuka off with Professor Kannazuki's daughter-"

"You're being invited, not only to discuss science with one of the world's celebrated prodigies in engineering, and you're using your son as an excuse," Aki noted.

"Three children shouldn't mill about the United States." Yusei pointed out with a calm matter-of-fact tone. "Remember when we went there four years ago? Ruka told me that Ancient Fairy Dragon still hasn't forgiven Professor Xavier. It's hard to lie to an acknowledged telepath."

"Is there something wrong, Papa?" Ryuusei broke up the ensuing debate.

"No, there isn't," Yusei simply answered. "It's just... well, Papa has a very persistent friend that keeps sending invites to me to some brainstorming sessions that, quite frankly, I don't want to go to."

"Why don't you want to go?" Ryuusei immediately got to the meat of the problem.

"Because the last time we went... we didn't really have a very nice farewell reception." Yusei paused, trying to figure out how to summarise that the exploding warehouse was completely not any fault of theirs, and that yes, Aki could control her powers, right, let's take a rain check on whether Psychic Duelists could be considered mutants, and decided not to even try. "Let's just say... that much as your Papa would like to, there are things that I'd rather avoid."

Ryuusei's expression was placid. "You mean doctors."

Yusei flinched. "No! Not doctors, or I wouldn't have Dr Erik around your mother. Just..."

Ryuusei's eyes narrowed. "Or is this friend like Matsu-sensei?"

"Definitely not like Matsu," Yusei replied fiercely. "He likes women too much. Erm... Ryuusei, you do know who is Anthony Stark, right?"

From the look his son gave him, Yusei could feel his heart sinking. The look said that he was going to be booking air tickets for one adult and one child, no questions asked.

* * *

There was nothing quite like greeting the light of a brand new day with a cup of coffee and the news that you weren't needed to fight two gods and magic dictator with a doctorate. It made for a very interesting start of the day, the end result being that the Avengers minus himself, Thor and Clint being caught in a battle between villains who did not care if the surrounding archipelago got destroyed in the evil equivalent of a pissing contest. Either way, Tony Stark was therefore left free to basically do what genius billionaire playboy philanthropists did in their free time, and leave the running of Stark Industries to his CEO.

Unfortunately, it also left Manhattan pretty much unguarded for the monster to come.

It was a large draconic creature. Sunlight poured off its scales in a riot of opalescent light, jewel-encrusted body generally attracting the attention of New Yorkers on the street. It was about forty feet long, also at least twice as large by wingspan, and definitely real and solid.

It was now blowing fire all around, and prowling and roaring at the screams of civilians about. No trauma, no pain, just real, unadulterated mythical lizard bent on a rampage through Times Square in the fine tradition begun by the Hulk.

"Boot to the head!" Tony yelled as the suit swooped down to kick it in the head. Undeterred, the – dragon! – monster turned to let loose a blast of fire towards Iron Man. The fire was countered by repulsor blasts, but then a single claw swiped down to smash at the armour before Iron Man took to the skies once more.

"_Power at thirty percent._"

"Aww, shit," Tony cursed. "Iron Man facing unknown hostile. It's... a dragon."

"We know, rich boy," Clint's voice drifted in. "I'm facing my own here, and so's the big green guy. You having any luck?"

"Nope. Repulsors don't work."

A salvo of missiles shot from the red and gold armour to impact the dragon's flank, earning the tinkle of jewels littering the ground and a roar of pain, followed by a swipe of claw. The talon scored the red midriff, and sent Iron Man reeling back into the nearest wall. Whether or not it actually hurt, the dragon kept advancing-

A _fwhip_ ripped through the air, before something exploded at the weak bleeding part where the dragon had already been injured. It roared, letting loose a fireball towards the higher ground.

Clint Barton threw himself off the car as it hit, the flame scoring the green paint and cracking the windows with heat, before there was a rumble of an explosion. "Shit!"

"It's a really authentic dragon, I know," Tony groaned as he got back up, armour clanging as he dusted himself.

"Alright, move already!"

Both Avengers turned their heads, but only to see the particularly loud and relatively shorter man hustle the crowd away from the carnage of the DMZ that had been Times Square. A quick look around also saw the New York Police Department doing their jobs of clearing the crowds of jaded New Yorkers more interested in the show than saving their own lives.

The man with a shock of orange hair then turned to the two Avengers. "Hit its side! It's weak at defending!"

"Huh?" Clint stared at him.

"Hurry up, it's moving!"

Despite both being relatively proud men, both were also unwilling to eschew good advice, and so Clint nocked another arrow to aim and fire, this one exploding on impact at the open wound.

The roar translated to a scream of pain as it keeled forward, desperately scrabbling to maybe gobble the two nearest Avengers before a thunk and a crackle of electricity shattered it into shards.

"Fellow shield-brothers, I daresay that I had not expected the mythical beasts of legend to still exist in Midgard," Thor, God of Thunder intoned.

A booming bass voice echoed throughout, and it sent chills through everyone present to listen. "This is only the beginning, let the games begin!" Another roar and a _whoosh,_the presence disappeared.

"Shit," Clint shot back, scanning the crowd for the orange-haired man who had disappeared. "Who the hell warned us?"

"There!" Tony took off after a head of searingly orange hair, his repulsors streaming after the man. The man leapt onto a black and yellow bike, revving the engine as it took off.

"Jarvis!"

"_Power at fifteen percent. Attempting to hack coordinate system of D-Wheel interface._"

"D-Wheel?" Tony echoed, puzzled. "Whaddaya mean? Those motorcycle things used for some game, right?"

"_Autopilot, Duel Mode_." the systems took over. "_Lane Selection, searching for optimum, usable lane. Authorisation!_"

Tony's reaction was predictable as the details scrolled down his visor. "_What_!"

"_My apologies, sir, this seemed to be the easiest way to keep a lock on him._" Jarvis's voice streamed in. "_You merely need play until you can hold him. Power at fourteen percent._"

"I don't have software!"

"_If I may, sir, I have taken the liberty of uploading a copy of the full deck to the list, and then written a program to set out the most suitable moves to stall our opponent until Agent Barton and Thor can get to him._"

"We're approaching Hell's Kitchen, shit!" Tony swore as New York passed them. "Okay, Jarvis!"

"You're challenging me to a Duel?" the other voice streamed in. "Shit!"

"_Summoning Gate Blocker in defence mode,_" the mechanical voice read out. "_Setting a card face-down in the Spell and Trap card zone. Declare turn end._"

"Heh! Come on!" the other's voice streamed in, derisive. "At least make an effort! Fine my turn, draw! Because you control a monster and I don't, I summon Black Feather – Sirocco the Dawn in attack mode!"

Numbers flashed at the image of the humanoid bird flashed across the screen. "_Unknown strategy, unknown strategy._"

"Now, because I control a Blackwing monster on the field, I special summon its partner, Black Feather – Blast the Black Spear! By the same effect, I special summon Black Feather – Gale the Whirlwind!" the mystery guy, as Tony had mentally dubbed him, hollered. "Now I play the trap from my hand, Delta Crow – Anti-Reverse! Your set card's destroyed!"

The screen fuzzed over slightly, before it passed, and Tony groaned. Though the rules were still something fuzzy in his head, if something of his was destroyed it could hardly be a good thing.

"Now, Sirocco allows the power of all Black Feathers on the field to gather into Blast!" the voice echoed. "Blast has the effect that allows it to deal piercing damage! Now eat my one-turn kill!"

Tony groaned as the spear shot from around a bird-like entity on the ground, sailing easily through the Hell's Kitchen area before it neatly cut into the Iron Man armour. In a single shot, Iron Man went spiralling to the ground, the echoes of derisive laughter in his ear before the connection was cut off.

"He's not going to make it, he's- holy shit, the bike flew!" Clint's voice shouted.

"_Power at five percent. Suit armour requires cool-down of five minutes before function can be carried out._"

* * *

_**Please review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

"We've got trouble."

Yusei merely raised an eyebrow at the declaration from Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. "Trouble as in 'responsible shareholder' or 'Iron Man' trouble, Ma'am? Because I'm sure that Mr Stark is a very busy man."

"Oh my, you're so sweet," Pepper sighed at the raven-haired man. "Just like Steve. I mean, Captain America, you know. Don't worry, Tony _will_ show up, he's been begging for your appearance ever since your first dissertation."

"I... don't want to be a burden," Yusei shifted uncomfortably. Being compared to national icons had a tendency to remind him of his own uncomfortable status as a saviour in Neo Domino. "I apologise for the huge effort Mr Stark has made-"

"No, no," Pepper assured. "Tony does delegate his work, you know. You're just one of a few he actually took the time to invite to the Big Apple. Well, our resident nuclear physicist Dr Banner might have had something to do with that. Perhaps I could show you to Dr Banner's place?"

"I... don't know..." Yusei swallowed, but following the unusually forceful woman through a series of hallways and down an elevator that stopped into a large, sterile laboratory. By the far end, a man was peering down a microscope.

"Tony, I've told you I don't need-" the man paused as he looked up to see Yusei. "Erm..."

"Yusei Fudo," Yusei bowed almost immediately. "It's an honour to meet you, Dr Banner."

"Oh, you're the one who turned down Tony's offer with a halfway legitimate reason, and Tony refused," Bruce nodded, a strange expression coming over his face. Yusei recognised it as Martha's own when confronted with another Jack vs Crow argument. "A pleasure to meet you too, I guess. Sorry, I'm a bit..."

"It's alright," Yusei nodded sagely. "Mr Stark can be surprisingly... persuasive."

"You mean, that he doesn't seem to understand the word 'no'."

"From my limited exposure to Mr Stark... I do believe that it may have been a given that the existence of such a word would have usually been applied to his replies to other people, and not vice versa." Yusei chose his words carefully.

"A good way to say that normally people don't say no to that much money and power." Bruce nodded in approval. "I heard that you told him no straight after he propositioned your wife."

"Oh, no," Yusei sagely replied. "Aki tore him a new one for that, but it was not for that reason that I rejected it. My son had been facing... problems... in school. Added that we had a dearth of caretakers, and I was ultimately forced to bring him to New York on Aki's leave."

"Ah," Bruce murmured. "When we're working around nuclear things, best not to have the kids underfoot. But... then I guess your wife is taking him out to the Big Apple? First time here?"

"Second," Yusei carefully answered. "I do hope that something doesn't happen."

"Oh, the alarm just went off," Bruce flippantly answered. "Localised threats, so I'm still on standby. Let's hope that your wife and kid wasn't caught in it."

"Oh, I would pity the others first," was the cryptic reply that frankly left Bruce Banner at a loss to comprehend.

* * *

"For the last damn time, it was the program itself!" Tony yelled. With the situation cleaned up for once, Tony was back to arguing with Clint re: the crash of the Mark VII Iron Man suit near the Hell's Kitchen area.

Clint was shaking with laughter. "A program that even Jarvis couldn't do anything about? Really?"

"_The rules concerning the game were rather clear,_" the program answered. "_Inviolate in and of itself. It took quite a while to have the Mark VII classed as a Duel Runner under such short notice, though I was not anticipating for our adversary to be so well versed in the game itself._"

"But there's an advantage," Tony argued. "Jarvis, cross-reference that particular make of bike across the world. I don't think even Cap's can fly just yet."

"_Indeed, sir. Estimated time: two hours._"

"You got totalled by a hack that got lucky," Clint snickered.

"See if your next arrow blows up in your face," was the dark reply. "Hello, Pepper, sorry, I got interrupted. Where the hell am I supposed to be now?"

"_Hi, Tony,_" was the long-suffering sigh. "_Well, that Japanese scientist finally came over._"

"Really? Finally, I thought he had more sentiment than sense."

"B_et he caved just to shut you up. Well, he seems to get along with Bruce, and he actually seems to like the concept of the arc reactor._"

"Yeah, I'm awesome like that."

"_He actually gets along with Bruce. Doesn't crowd, occasional input. So much like Steve._"

"Bet you he's like a diva."

"_Ten bucks says you're wrong. Banner isn't throwing him out._"

"A hundred pop otherwise."

"_Done."_

"Good." Tony clicked his tongue to hang up. "Right, time to go face the mystery guy then."

* * *

"Can we go now?" was the question posed to Aki Izayoi from a young Ryuusei.

Aki frowned longingly at the display. "I don't suppose-"

"Mama. Please."

"Yes, yes," Aki sighed. "You're a fan of Iron Man, I know. Diana?"

Very slowly, Ryuusei turned to regard the girl hiding behind the taller woman, sulking about something with cold eyes turned onto him. "_Hi, Shimotsuki. Big Apple not growing on you?_"

"_It's noisy,_" the girl groaned back in Japanese. "_Why couldn't we stay in Japan, Mama?_"

"English, Setsuka," Diana absently replied. "Even if Americans butcher their own language- Oh, look, booties! I'm sure Professor Kannazuki would have loved this..."

Both kids exchanged dark looks, and groaned as the distant explosion sounded.

"_What was that?_" Ryuusei muttered.

"The Avengers, probably," the dark-haired woman next to Aki flippantly answered. "Aki, what about this one? Did Subaru mention anything about that poor girl, Seika?"

"I'm sure that Seika was one size bigger..."

Both mothers stopped when the monster tore through the window. Its reddish skin contrasted sharply against the black headpiece that it wore, spiked and dangerous especially as it opened its squared maw.

Then all four hit the floor as a burst of fire burnt the nearest displays and people began evacuating.

"_Armed_ _Dragons?_" Diana looked disgusted. "_Who uses that anymore?_"

"_Focus!_" Aki snapped as she tugged Ryuusei to her side. "_Setsuka_?"

Whatever the question was, it definitely wasn't what they were expecting. "_He's got to be around here._"

"_There_!" Ryuusei pointed to where a few feathered humanoids were hovering, clearly taunting and leering at panicked crowds amidst a mass of panic. One dived, pulling a screaming man up to the third floor before letting go, cackling as the man's bones broke and a glass support shattered near Ryuusei on impact. A cut graced the top of his hand. _"Ow!"_

"_Move for the stairs._"

Diana's brow furrowed at Aki's snap but shepherded the children back. "_Containment? Or-_"

"_I'll distract the Dragons, and you can get Ryuusei to safety_," Aki snapped as she extracted the device from her handbag. "_How dare they..._"

"_Mama?"_ Ryuusei breathed as he was pulled away.

"Later, hon," the dark-haired woman promised as she pulled both pre-teens back. The door of the stairwell slammed shut, cutting off his cry mid-pronouncement.

Aki Fudo, _nee_ Izayoi, was therefore left to scan the floating grinning dragons that were still bombing the crowd with literal people that could not have survived it, not unless they had some unknown gene of something. "So many lives..." she whispered, scanning the crowd for the single anomaly she knew had to be somewhere.

There, the bald bearded man in the corner, hiding in the shadows, calm where the crowds were panicked. "Prepare to feel the cold flames of sorrow upon your form..." Aki's whisper was harsh. "Appear now, Black Rose Dragon!"

Thorned vines lashed out, as a whirlwind of red petals blew and the monsters scattered in its wake. Red locks snapped the simple tie that held her long red hair back, the scarlet locks flowing much like rivulets of blood.

The man stared up as the Black Rose Dragon bore down amongst all of them. "Mother of God, there's others-"

"Black Rose Flare!" Aki snapped, and the man quickly hid in the shadows as the swarm of black petals skirted his general area, garnering more screams.

Nodding to herself, Aki simply dodged to one side, did her hair up, and left with the milling passers-by as the sound of police sirens and dying creatures shattering splintered the peace of their vacation.

* * *

"'god', mind you, not 'God'," Bruce was saying as Tony strutted in, as much as anyone could in a nickel-titanium suit of armour. "The essential capital letter made the crucial distinction between: 1) powerful and influential beings, and 2) the creator of the universe."

"Although I do not, as a rule, subscribe to Christianity, I suppose I see your point," the other man nodded, and from where Tony stood the yellow mark on his cheek glimmered.

"Banner, how's my favourite green guy?" Tony exclaimed as he made his entrance. "And the prodigal scientist finally comes to Stark Tower. Or Avengers Tower, I'm thinking of renaming the damned place."

The other dark-haired man paused. "Erm..."

"Yusei, Tony Stark," Bruce quickly introduced them. "Tony, it's the guy that I told you about, Yusei Fudo. The other guy likes him too, you've got to talk to him."

"Huh..." Tony nodded at the other man. "So, you're 'you-say', is it?"

"Yusei," the man corrected. "Please, call me Yusei, Mr Stark."

"Tony, please. Mr Stark makes me feel like I'm in trouble."

"...Tony-san, then?"

"Is that a Japanese thing?" Tony snickered. "Oh, that's just amazing. I've seen your dissertation on the theoretical effects of the mind on high-energy density areas, and I gotta say, it's so good it's not even wrong. Though, I'm more of a fan of the time you were street-racing on motorcycles and playing card games."

Yusei's reply was drier than expected. "Yes, that particular piece had received quite some criticism in that manner, Mr Stark, despite the abundance of evidence that proves contrary."

"Call me Tony, please." the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist answered, looking at sky-blue eyes for the first time. "Have you talked to Brucie yet? His work on anti-electron collisions is frankly beyond plebeians, but I'm more of a fan of the enormous green rage monster myself."

"I cannot confess to having met the green rage monster, though I have read Dr Banner's piece on gamma radiation," was the immediate answer, without skipping a beat. "We're both mechanics. My son is a fan of Iron Man's workings."

"Ah, now we have someone after my own heart," Tony grinned. "You mean the things that blow up?"

"No, more of how did you fix the icing problem." Yusei smiled slightly. "Perhaps the multitude of weapons were considered, but mostly we're looking at the miniaturisation of the arc reactor. I'm the overseer of the Momentum reactor back in Neo Domino City, you see."

Tony stared at him. "You? Oversee the closest thing in the world to a perpetual motion generator?"

"Yes." Yusei said. "Mr Stark..."

Tony's phone rang loudly with the opening of 'I Wanna Be Sedated' before the billionaire picked it up. "Hi, Nicky."

Whatever it was, both Avengers paused at once. "Look, I'm in the middle of taking a wannabe down a peg."

Yusei's face remained calm at the disparagement before the doors dinged open.

"We've got a link on the monsters, Stark," Colonel Nick Fury himself was still on the phone behind all three scientists before he hung up, then... "Dismiss the new guy, Stark."

"Uh-uh," Tony immediately shifted to place the raven-haired scientist between himself and Nick Fury. Blue eyes met brown and eye-patch without backing down.

"I apologise," Yusei answered in a monotone. "It appears that Mr Stark has every intention of using me as a human shield for the moment."

Fury just stared back. "You think you're funny?"

"No. It just means that Mr Stark is not letting go of my coat."

"Dr Fudo is one of the world's experts on physics as well," Bruce stood up beside the other. "Why? Did the readings come back in?"

Fury opened his mouth, but never got to reply before a loud crash sounded and the walls came down. Spookily silent, three heads poked through, white-bone masks eerily blank before all three oriented towards the group.

The Geiger counter went off the moment all three opened fire.

* * *

"Get out!" Fury reached for the sole civilian, but the raven-haired man had already managed to reach and haul Tony out of the dragon-fire. A staccato burst of gunfire concluded Fury's warning, yet the bullets bounced harmlessly off a large hand-like mandible as all three heads screeched.

"Shit," Tony swore. "Activate Iron Man Mark VII-"

A crackle of electricity went off at the same time, Tony's voice abruptly cutting off as the sprinklers went off.

"Move," Fury hissed, three men getting out as a long scream began to echo and Bruce looked slightly green.

"Montage Dragon."

"What?" Tony muttered, looking at the other scientist who had stopped in his tracks. "Yeah, it's a dragon-"

"Montage Dragon," the raven-haired man clarified, panic calming down in the face of the familiar. "It's a Duel Monster. Eight-star, Dragon/Effect-"

"Dude, this is not the time to go off topic," Tony hissed as Nick Fury himself backed off, reloading another clip.

"It's a Duel Monster, which means that the controller must be around somewhere," Yusei clarified, turning to Fury. "It is incapable at defending. Make it defend itself."

A keening screech, and the Hulk was thrown out to hit the wall, followed by the dragon which made a point of unleashing burst after burst of fire against the green Hulk behind the three men.

"Jarvis!" Tony yelled to the empty air. "Okay, my AI's not picking up."

Distantly, the Hulk roared. The dragon screamed.

"Tony, Tony," a distant voice cackled as the billionaire's eyes widened as footsteps echoed in the wake of the dragon. "What are you going to do now?"

"Stane," the billionaire snarled at the grinning man hiding in the half-shadow. "No, I watched you die. I saw you _die_."

"Death is a spectrum, Tony," the man laughed. "Kill him, my dragon. Kill the Iron Man."

"He's dead?" Yusei panted.

"I saw him die," Tony echoed.

"Not as dead as we thought, then." Fury aimed and fired.

Stane laughed as a bloom of blood dribbled down one arm. "That's not going to work, you know. I was thinking that maybe I would have used one of the others, but the head itself."

"The others?" Yusei echoed. "Then-"

"The Wings, and the Tail," Stane mocked. "But your life would be very sweet to use as leverage, Dr Fudo."

"You know him?" Tony looked at Yusei.

"First time meeting him personally, but I have a rough idea what he is now, thank you," Yusei answered as the dragon snarled again, hate boiling the air itself as it dived after Tony.

"Bullets don't affect it, what are you-" Fury cut off as the scientist stood to face the advancing creature.

It slowed, evidently considering the one human in these corridors not running for its life. A head, the main one, cocked itself. The blue-scaled tail waved languidly.

"Calling dragons indoors?" came the bland observation. "You might as well bring the ceiling down on our heads. Less messy. Not that there was anything _wrong_ with overkill."

Stane just gave an inarticulate gesture of frustration. "I have dragons. You have no power over monsters, not like the Foot, nor do you have any overt power like the Wings, or anything like the Tail. What are you going to do?"

"Obviously you're not a Dark Signer," was the placid answer. "And whatever I've done is here."

Cue the moment of surprised silence before the _gong_ of a hammer crackling with electricity fired through.

"Shield-brother!" Mjollnir slammed against the dragon, which roared and hit back against the thunder god, crouching down in a defensive gesture to the left of them.

Yusei pointed. "Now!"

Fury never doubted; he fired. Somewhere, somehow, the bullet buried itself between armoured plates, causing the dragon to screech and roar in pain before it shattered.

"Very bad as defending itself," Yusei nodded to Stane. "You were saying?"

The reply was to... disappear, as far as either of them could tell. The remains of the dragon aside...

"Tony!" Now moderately decent once more, Bruce was waving the beeping Geiger counter. "You've got to see this!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Very good," was Diana's airy comment once Aki had walked out of the department store. The two children were by the side, one panicked and the other looking cautiously bored as only a six-year-old could achieve. Ryuusei ran to hug his mother once she came up to them. "You contained the damage. Now we should leave."

"That... that was a drone," Aki shook her head. "I haven't met one myself, but Yusei... he said that Roman, Roman Goodwin would use drones. Something about spiders and remote mind-control-"

"Ah," Diana murmured as the four of them began to take a brisk walk. "But the thing is, you stopped the drone, there is nothing more to be done, so we should go find your beloved husband and inform him of these things so that at the very least a plan can be constructed. Was he...?"

"It could not be a Dark Signer," Aki finally replied after a long silence at the nearest subway entrance.

"And why not?" unlike all others, the question was only assessing, calm and curious rather than a demand, a reminder of a destiny long gone with the Crimson Dragon. They passed by an electronics store, all the televisions reporting on the multitude of attacks.

"Dark Signers would not pull something this... overt," Aki finally answered. "I mean, the whole objective is to gather enough souls for the Earthbound Gods. Why would they kill innocents when they could sacrifice them all at a later date? It cannot be a terror attack, not if they wanted to be found immediately. The taint of the Dark Signers are an insidious poison, not a destructive cannon. Unless for revenge, and even then... Misty did not involve others. She chose a secluded area, with very few people, even if she had no qualms about summoning the Earthbound Gods."

"Mama?" Ryuusei asked as her grip tightened.

Aki turned a sad smile to the child. "It's nothing, Ryuusei. Let's go find your father." Turning to Diana, Aki's expression changed. "What drove that question? There are children listening."

"Precisely," Diana answered, and Aki felt her blood chill slightly as the young dark-haired woman turned cobalt eyes sharpened to something like needles to her daughter with a possessive hold on the small shoulder.

* * *

"Well you're not going to believe this, Fury, but what you faced may have pure Tesseract energy."

Fury could feel a headache building right between his eyes. All the Avengers were present, Clint and Natasha included who were still nursing injuries from killing smaller dragons milling about the few floors left in Stane's wake, and all looked solemn. Yusei just looked politely confused.

Thor spoke for most of their thoughts. "The Tesseract is on Asgard, in the Weapons' Vault."

"I know you don't want to believe it, director, but that _is_ what it was." Bruce sighed. "Basically, sentient Tesseract energy, held by some law of thermodynamics that apparently don't apply to our world. Maybe... another world, another dimension. Just not this one."

"Are we talking about the eight-square cube, or something else?"

Everyone started at the polite question. In a room containing the best technology on the planet – which was a debatable claim only marginally better supported – with a super-soldier, two master assassins and the Hulk, not to mention the demigod and Nick Fury, and Yusei had managed to remained unnoticed. A comment to the state of affairs, or maybe just the man himself.

"You recognised it," Fury suddenly said. "That dragon. You knew when to kill it."

"Montage Dragon, eight-star monster, Dragon/Effect Type, Attribute Earth, questionable attack power, zero defence power, and one notable dragon of Duel Monsters," Yusei answered. "I once made a career of playing Duel Monsters, of course I can recognise it."

"Wait, it's a monster from a card game?" Clint paused. "Does this sound stupid to you?"

"It's a very strange world," Steve pointed out, still staring at Yusei.

"The important thing is that a man _confirmed_ _dead_ is still running around, and apparently he can command these... things," Fury cut in. "And you remained suspiciously calm. And he targeted _you_. Dr Fudo, you might want to tell us something before you're charged."

"Director, he's not American, there's diplomatic immunity." Natasha pointed out.

"Not for suspected terrorists."

"For the undead to engage in _seid_ merely to prolong their life upon this mortal plane is a sad state of affairs." Thor rumbled. "We can only be thankful that the _seidmadr_ was present to offer his services."

"Back up, what are those terms?" Fury glared at him.

"_Seid_ is what you would refer to as magic," Thor clarified. "_Seidmadr_ are those who use magic, sorcerers. Loki would be a _seidmadr_ of the highest order, as would the Allfather. There is no shame in sorcery, of course, but it is usually the domain of women. Is it not so on Midgard?"

"No, it is _not_ so on Midgard, not if the results are dragons and monsters and-" Clint thought for a second. "But didn't your father practices magic too?"

"Yes, but he is a great warrior and a king, so no one could doubt his manhood." Thor struggled to put into words the assumptions he had grown up with. "Engaging in women's work such as sorcery is... less respectable than the manly arts of war. But when needs be... _seid_ is a dangerous art, in and of itself."

"Especially in games." Natasha chipped in. "Games were made first as a replacement for the arts of war."

"Yes, Lady Darcy would doubtless be able to elaborate more on that," Thor nodded, turning to Yusei. "Seidmadr, I thank your assistance."

"Erm, no problem," Yusei looked discomfited. "But there's one thing... that man, Stane, he was dead?"

"I saw him die in the arc reactor," Tony snarled. "Yeah, 'bout as dead as a dodo before today."

"He mentioned others." Yusei held up a hand. "The wings and tail... and me, the head. The only people who would have any reason to mention this..."

"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Steve suggested. "I mean, if we're going to help, we should know what happened, right? This man is likely fixated on the Avengers, and Iron Man, so we should know who, or what, are we facing. Not like it could get any weirder."

Yusei spoke. About the Dark Signers, and the Earthbound Gods. About having a magical birthmark, and with it a curse neither of them wanted. About finding each other, about forming bonds, and about facing the darkness that shrouded Neo Domino and Satellite before. About having lost precious friends to the Earthbound Gods, and fighting to get them back. About how energy from the Momentum had been used to tear open a barrier between worlds, and it was only luck and proper procedure and winning that saved them. That, and the Crimson Dragon. About Yilaster. About the WRGP – and when the Aesir cards were mentioned, Thor perhaps went silent – and the dystopian future averted.

"Then it went off," was the conclusion.

"It's a very... ludicrous tale," Tony finally said.

"I thought you wouldn't believe me." Yusei conceded. "I have a rough idea what Stane might be after. Dark Signers are people revived from the dead by the Earthbound Gods."

"So essentially it's a walking zombie," Clint sarcastically muttered. "Fantastic. Where do we blow it up?"

Yusei looked momentarily flummoxed for a moment. "I do not know." The Avengers and Fury were about to have a collective before Yusei raised his hand. "Please allow me to remind you that I have no definite proof that Stane is indeed a Dark Signer. I do not think that he is, for if so then obviously he does not need us for anything."

"And my tech?" Tony protested. "The entire fucking system crashed!"

"Again, I am at a loss to explain. I do know that there is a Machine Type in Duel Monsters, but I suppose-" Yusei cut off. "I have to ask my wife, and I suspect she doesn't know, but my colleague might."

"Your _wife_?" Steve had to ask.

"Takes a man to admit it," Natasha murmured.

"My wife has the power to make monsters like that real," Yusei admitted. "Or, she used to, for a spell. I have no obvious powers like hers, though I did make a career of facing monsters like that and commanding my own once." A hand found itself to his face, where he rubbed between his eyes. "It was _over_ already."

Bruce, perhaps the only person who could sympathise with being dragged into a war where they had no stake, patted his hand. The Hulk had been remarkably calm, except for a few hours earlier.

"For now we can't do anything," Fury finally concluded.

"Thank you," Yusei finally admitted. "It was nice to meet you. Mr Stark, Dr Banner... Director Fury."

Fury looked taken aback. "How'd you-"

"Dr Banner mentioned it when you were talking about Tesseract energy, whatever it is," Yusei gave a wan smile before he turned for the door.

"Doctor."

"Apparently, I earned my Ph. D. on a dissertation that couldn't be proven, but, yes?" Yusei looked at Thor for a moment. "Erm...?"

"Thor, son of Odin," the thunder god solemnly answered. "Just because fate has let you go does not mean that you will stop."

Yusei gave a brief smile. "I know that."

"Sometime in your past, you have faced our power, of mine, of my brother's, and of the Allfather's." the son of Odin continued. "Lightning raged upon you, Loki plied his trade upon you, and the Allfather's eyes saw through you, and yet you have won." Complete silence echoed. "The Crimson Dragon, the feathered serpent Quezalcoatl, he was right. Lesser men would not have faced a dragon for someone they barely knew, especially not one without power."

"You say a lot," was the faint reply before the scientist left in a swirl of his lab-coat. "There are heroes."

* * *

Yusei was greeted with a hug the moment he returned to the hotel room. "How was your day?"

Aki paused for a moment as she set out a few mugs of hot water. "Good. The department store was attacked by Armed Dragons. I think Diana might be on to something when she mentioned that New York was very chaotic."

"Lucky you," Yusei sighed. "I faced a Montage Dragon today. At Avengers Tower. I think it might be tougher to convince everyone that I'm serious now."

"Well, the stereotype is rather unfair," Aki conceded. "You do have a brain for science, I know it from the time I asked you for assistance with physics. It takes time."

Yusei groaned. "Maybe I should have done a dissertation on something other than Psychic Duelists. Momentum itself, maybe."

"That would be building on your father work," Aki observed as Yusei lightly brushed the sleeping boy's cheek with the back of his hand. "Ryuusei had fun today, I think, but I had to leave him with Diana to handle the Duelist in the department store."

"There was someone in Avengers Tower," Yusei carefully chose. "Apparently a Dark Signer, but I doubt it since the department store was attacked by Armed Dragons at roughly the same time."

"Maybe he is like Roman?" Aki suggested, and it was not with the airy lightness of never facing the enemy, but the weight of knowing exactly what the Dark Signers could do.

"He might," Yusei murmured. "But Roman knew how to manipulate, how to play a gambit stretching years. This man, Stane, I don't think so. The man plays a heavy beatdown. He still hasn't learned that strength is not everything."

Aki looked at him, studied the tired lines and the small additions of time on Yusei Fudo. "You're not worried about yourself. You're worried about what they might do. To us, to Ryuusei, to even this city."

"Thank you, dear," Yusei leaned over for a kiss.

"Papa? Mama?" Both turned to look a the sleepy boy. "Hug?"

Laughter sounded.

* * *

"Are you tired, my snow-flower?"

"_Not as much as you are."_

Diana frowned, turning to her daughter. "English, Setsuka."

"Why?"

Diana conceded this one. Both of them knew what they were discussing, after all. "Because it need to be done."

"I see."

"No, you don't."

"Of course, Mama."

Diana merely gave a grim smile as she finished the braid. Her daughter could communicate so much in single words. "We're being tracked. I'm going to teach you how to interrogate them. The trick is to threaten them, you see."

"Yes, Mama."

"Good. If it gets bad, kick them in the nuts and run back to me. No matter what."

"Of course, Mama." Turning on one heel, the girl gave a nod before she strolled out, wandering the hallways with a measured tread to stop before the suited man.

The man looked down to see into cold eyes, blue like the winter skies. "Yes?"

"Mama has to say something."

The man blinked, turning to look around. "A- Are you lost? Erm..."

"Mama wants to see Mr Fury in the lobby," Setsuka repeated. "Could you give that to Mr Fury?"

The man shook his head. "Look, kid. I- Mr Fury doesn't see anyone on their terms."

The girl smiled, and it was chilling all of a sudden as his leg freezes. "It's a funny thing, ice. If I let your leg freeze completely, by the time you can thaw it out frostbite might set in. It's a very strange danger, isn't it? An arm, a leg, maybe a life." Now gentler, she leaned forward to where the man had fallen onto the carpeted floor. "My mother would love to see Mr Fury in the lobby of the hotel."

"That's enough, Setsuka." the girl let go, walking back to the waiting woman by the side, the small hallway hidden from camera view and from people and therefore, from mercy. "I apologise, my daughter may have gone overboard. Impulse issues and everything. Please, how may we address you, and what is your designation? Please answer the following with nothing but the truth."

The man looked from the girl, to the woman's bright, mad eyes, and sighed. "Agent Philip Coulson, SHIELD. Could you please fix my leg?"


	4. Chapter 4

"No, I mean you understood in that you followed the process I went about in order to discuss the subject at a certain level while reinterpreting to actually offer constructive feedback. Which means you. Are pretty much a genius."

"Maybe I'm just very interested in the subject." Yusei argued. "Or I have a similar working thought process."

Tony scans him, head tilted sideways. "Nah. I know better. I can tell. You're brilliant."

Yusei tried not to cave. He really did. Not punching Tony Stark in the face must have been one of the most heroic things he had ever done. Especially when he had just opened the room door to see the billionaire's face first thing the next late morning. Jack would have thought nothing of punching him, whether his own son was present or not. Yusei still had scruples regarding assault and the proper applications thereof, not to mention that it would be teaching a bad example to Ryuusei. Even when the billionaire in question was trying to fix his faux pas. It was therefore with some Herculean self-control that he sat down after breaking fast to be whisked off with Aki and his son to the waiting car.

"You must be the beloved _seidmadr_ wife that Yusei of Fudo have married," Thor was pronouncing loudly to Aki the moment they met the Avengers.

Aki's lips twitched as she tried not to laugh loudly. Ryuusei just glanced at him with plain curiosity.

Thor regarded the child with unabashed curiosity. "And you are?"

"Erm, Ryuusei." the boy spoke with an accent. "Fudo Ryuusei."

"In Japan we placed family names first," Yusei hurriedly intervened.

Thor's expression brightened. "I see!"

"I don't understand," Diana's expression was a mask of neutrality as she regarded the Stark Tower. "When did _I_ become a colleague? Especially to the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division?"

The suit next to the woman coughed. "Erm, Madam..."

Diana graced him with a brittle smile that warded off any warnings. "And Director Fury? Setsuka is coming with me."

"Is inside." the agent stepped back. "Do you have to...?"

"What?"

The blond agent frowned, looking down at the dark-haired girl dressed in light blue and the black-haired boy with red bangs – whether a mutation or not is not to be considered – looking back at him.

The girl raised a hand towards him, and the agent stared at the outstretched appendage like it could bite him. "I think... Director Fury might have words."

* * *

"Someone get the kids out."

Yusei tried not to sigh at Fury's immediate reaction. "Well, it does not seem fair to my son that he comes to the famous Stark Tower and not meet his idol."

Ryuusei was staring at Tony with an awestruck expression. "Whoa."

The billionaire preened. "Thanks, kid. You like Iron Man?"

"Erm, yes." the boy frowned, before babbling in Japanese.

"Okay, kid, I understood none of that," Tony muttered. "Does anyone know Japanese?"

"He's asking something about the icing problem," Steve had a studied look on his face. "And how does one coordinate four repulsors to lift a man to fly, not to mention compensate for the repulsors that are Iron Man's primary weapons, something like that. I learned it in the war."

Tony gave a theatrical swoon into the nearest chair. "A boy after my own heart. Is he up for adoption?"

"Enough fanboy-ing," Clint snapped. "So, Stane. Apparently he's now a zombie capable of summoning nasty monsters that are real and maybe eat people. Can we get started?" His snap earned him looks from the others gathered.

"Agent Barton, babysitting." Fury softly murmured.

"I'll follow too," Diana softly murmured, chivvying both children to the door. Carrying a severe expression, Clint thrust his jaw out and followed.

Yusei followed their passage with a neutral expression. "It seems personal for him."

"It's... the first time we've dealt with the possibility of revival from the dead," Fury acknowledged. "I mean, it's not everyone who can... turn out like Stane, right?"

"I do not know." Yusei quietly answered. "I knew of seven Dark Signers before. They died in varying circumstances, each of them clearly disparate before the fateful meeting, and even then pretty much the only unifying force was their slavery to the Earthbound Gods."

"Verily," Thor gravely imparted.

"These Earthbound Gods," Natasha frowned. "Do they do the mind control thing?"

"They can," Aki answered spoke up. "Usually the Dark Signers kept some free will, until they showed signs of refusing to continue with whatever the plans of the Earthbound Gods were, and then the Earthbound Gods would take over. But the signs resemble possession more than any mind control... Dark Signers need to be defeated, and then the control over them will die, and with it the Dark Signers themselves. But... the Earthbound Gods were defeated. Sealed away."

"Where?" Fury posed.

"Nazca Lines," was the bland reply from Yusei. "Each geoglyph contains one Earthbound God. You'd notice if the Earthbound escaped, since the corresponding geoglyph would disappear from Nazca as well and translocate to wherever it was summoned."

"Nazca Lines?" Bruce echoed. "The Lines are freaking huge. How large are these things?"

"The same size of the Line."

Tony whistled. "Big monster."

"And the summoning of the Earthbound must not happen."

"Why?" Steve's brow furrowed.

"To summon, you require sacrifices," Yusei explained patiently, the tone not condescending. "Which also translate to every human soul that happens to be within the geoglyph the Earthbound will bring. Now, we bring it to a packed, crowded city like New York... we'll have a lot of people disappearing, sacrificed to feed the Earthbound God."

"Okay, giant, soul-eating evil creatures that our evil cultist Stane wants to summon," Tony concluded. "Time to upgrade DEFCON."

"That's one thing," Yusei frowned. "But..."

"Hold on," Fury held up a hand. "So, these... Dark Signers-"

"Stane is definitely not a Dark Signer," Aki cut in. "For one thing, if he was, then obviously he would be targeting us, or others. His attacks seem to be more random, except perhaps the one at Avengers Tower which could be attributed to revenge upon Mr Stark."

"Hold on, we said it was a training exercise," Fury growled. "Who's the security leak?"

Yusei let his cobalt gaze drop to Tony. "The primary motive of a Dark Signer is most commonly revenge. It is not difficult to decide; this Tower is famous for housing Iron Man, is it not?"

"Okay," Bruce nodded. "Good deduction. But then why would... why would Stane attack Tony, or especially attack here, or even random places? They'd be searching for you, wouldn't they?"

"Roman... I do not know, but I presume it has to do with a place of high-energy density." Yusei shook his head.

"The arc reactor," Tony concluded. "For what? You can't really use energy for mystical mumbo jumbo, right?"

"Energy is all the same when it is converted from one form to another," Thor argued. "No matter the source, the application will apply."

"Law of conservation of energy," Bruce considered. "Perhaps... Thor's hammer, Loki, it all points to sufficiently advanced tech that's indistinguishable from magic. Maybe..."

"Enough of the tech talk," Fury groaned. "How do we defeat Stane? I mean, if we kill him, he's going to revive, isn't he?"

"Not if we defeat him in combat!" Thor pompously cried.

Aki held up both hands. "We defeated them with a card game. Forgive us if it sounds less impressive."

Tony snorted. "Well, Stane's a dab hand at poker, if nothing else."

"We are Duelists, people who play Duel Monsters," Yusei reached into his lab coat, which caused quite a few tense moments before he produced a pack of cards, flipping a card face-up.

Fury leaned over. "Stardust Dragon, attack twenty-five hundred, defence two thousand- what the hell is this?"

"Well, in America and Japan, this is Duel Monsters." Silver Wing. Junk Synchron_._ "You and your opponent each have a deck, and you use your monsters to try to take out the other Duelist's life points." Quillbolt Hedgehog_. _Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. One for One. "You use Magic and Trap cards to support your monsters, and against each other's magic and traps, and the whole thing can end in a pretty complex strategy."

"Can't be better than poker," Natasha put in, finally distracted from her feminine attributes.

Yusei gave a single eyebrow lift. "I defy any poker player to last five rounds in a Duel. It's not just what's in your hand and your deck. It's what's in your opponent's hand and deck, and you can never call it the same way twice. And against someone who can makes the cards real..."

Tony frowned at one of the cards. "What was that last one?"

"System Down?" Yusei's brow furrowed at it. "Normal Spell. Removes from play Machines, that is, they are removed permanently from the game with the absence of cards that can get them back. Costs some life points, but against Machine-oriented-" Yusei cut off in realisation. "Stane might have used it to crash the system."

"No wonder I had to revamp _everything_," Tony complained. "And the Iron Man suit, oh god the suit." He then told them everything about the mystery person.

"Alexandrite Dragon," Yusei took in the slightly blurred but still functional photo Fury had on hand. "Powerful offense, and... well, not very stellar at defence. Just like the Montage Dragon yesterday." He shook his head. "I have lost count of how many monsters I faced were holograms, and how many cause real damage."

"And the mysterious person used Black Feathers, or something," Tony informed him.

"I know him, do not worry, he is a friend." Yusei assured with a bemused smile. "It was an accident, was it not?"

"Well, his onboard program crashed the Mark VII!" Tony raged. "Whoever wrote that program made it until not even my AI could overrule it! What kind of genius is _that_?"

Yusei now looked discomfited. "I wrote that engine program. And the onboard program. And improved it. I apologise for the engineering failure my software has caused you."

Jaws were dropping at the declaration that someone finally made something not even Tony Stark could break down. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

"The thing is, we don't know how much more is there we can help," Aki finally broke in as Yusei took her hand. Steve looked away; one look at the exchanged glances was like peering into something exceedingly private. "I once held power not dissimilar to what you might face, but I no longer have them. Our colleague who came with us, Diana Hunter, she is... the same as I had been, and she runs an organisation dedicated to the support of others like us, that we call Psychic Duelists. Perhaps, she could inform you in more detail about what Stane could possibly do. My husband and I... we will try to help, but I do not know anymore what might be of assistance."

Fury took a deep breath at the sincerity of husband and wife. "Well, Doctor, Ma'am, with all respect, you're being targeted by Stane for some arcane ritual, and most likely your friends as well. I suggest you accept our offer of SHIELD custody until this situation blows over."

Both of them exchanged looks, but nodded. "Thank you, Director."

It was a while more of answering before Yusei escorted his wife out of the room packed with the Avengers, both of them tense and worried. "Can I help you?"

Steve shifted his stance. "Erm... I'm Captain America. I, erm... I've been updating myself on world affairs, and while I realise that this might be slightly beyond the pale... I feel sorry. About the A-bomb."

Under the assessing gaze of the dark-haired doctor, Steve still held his ground, before Yusei nodded. "Do you know the reasoning for it?"

Steve frowned. "Word was, that the Japanese would have fought an invasion of the homeland to the bitter end as their militarist leaders exhorted them to do, with the same staggering losses on both sides that the fighting in the South Pacific had produced. Hence, the atom bombs were not only saving the lives of American soldiers, but ultimately fewer Japanese too would die from the atom bombs than they would from a full-scale invasion. It's an argument which struck me as condescending and fallacious."

"Yes," Yusei nodded. "But it was both sides that were wrong. You did nothing wrong, Captain, in fact you might have done a service to the world."

"Please, call me Steve," Steve replied. "Erm... where's your son?"

* * *

"_This is so cool!_" Ryuusei was cooing at the sheer view from Stark Tower and its view of New York City. "_I can see the Empire State from here!_"

"Lots of people can see the Empire State, Ryuusei," Diana absently replied. The woman was in a stuffed chair by the waiting room in which Clint had bunged them in, and now Setsuka joined the younger Fudo in appreciating the view under her mother's eye. Nearby, an aquarium teetered precariously by the edge of the table, a few gaping fish swimming from side to side. Despite Stark Industries' stance, Clint was willing to bet that the fish was Pepper's choice, or maybe decorating. Or maybe they were standby guinea pigs for R&D. Nothing was sacred on an R&D floor.

"So... Stane's a zombie?" he asked.

"Doubtlessly," was the reply. "Are you alright?"

"Pardon?"

"You keep pacing. And you're an Avenger in your own right, Mr Barton."

Clint paused. "You can't prove that."

"I don't need to. Your stride, your position, even the way you deflect Ryuusei's questions is professional to the highest degree. Despite your propensity towards bows and arrows, you are indeed a marksman. It takes a practised glance to determine the discipline taken in your trade. And even if not..." Diana spread her hands, smiling. "The Hawkeye is a very prolific persona."

"Okay, lady, you win that round," Clint admitted. "And then what? So can you guess why I'm kicked out, Ms Holmes?"

"You do not seem incapacitated," Diana allowed. "Neither do you seem... scared, or terrified. I can only imagine that you are... emotionally compromised, I think, is the coverall term. That you have a personal stake here."

Glass shattered in a flash of cold as water spilled out, Setsuka jumping out of the way to stare at the wet carpet and fish flopping from side to side.

"We'll get water!" Ryuusei called, leading the younger girl off and both adults to stare at the fish which was slowly flapping less.

Clint picked up a shard, the glass cracking under his hands before he wiped the moisture on his lapels. "Ice?"

"My snow flower is rather cold," Diana acknowledged. "It is personal, about Stane?"

"Not Stane," Clint growled. "Never met the man in my life."

"And yet you have carried something like a grudge," Diana noted. "So it is not Stane personally, but it is something related to Stane. Monsters? You face them on a daily basis, it is difficult to imagine. There are so many fears an agent of any side have..."

"I can't decide if you're creepy or if you're just screwing with me," Clint snapped. "It doesn't matter either way."

Cool blue eyes studied him as the children took small cups of water, some of them carefully picking up the slippery fish and dumping them into the cups.

"_This one looks dead,_" was Setsuka's observation amidst the fishy wet spot.

"_No!_" Ryuusei argued. "_Give me?_"

"It's a dead fish," Diana frowned. "Put it back, Ryuusei."

The boy bit his lip. "_But, Madame...!_"

"Ryuusei. Fish. _Now._"

The air seemed to grow tense between them as innocent blue eyes met cool ones.

"_Give it here,_" Setsuka snatched the fish-cup out of his hands, presumably gotten from the nearest cooler, and plopped it on the table.

"You have special powers too, don't you?" Clint frowned as the boy was manhandled off towards the washrooms, aided by the universal signs placed around..

"Does it matter?"

The Hawkeye looked as if he would have taken a different expression, but his answer remained. "It does if you're a security threat, like, how did you know my name?"

"Fury called you Agent Barton."

"Okay, now that's just scarily observant."

"I am Diana Hunter," Diana replied with some derisive amusement in her voice. "It says something about myself, that I am a hunter. You see, but you do not observe."

Clint bit his lip as the children came back, still milling about to talk of the view from the Stark Tower over New York. "And the kids, was bringing them an accident?"

"For the Fudo family, it is," Diana looked sad. "For my family, it was."

"Are you trying to be cryptic with me?" Clint snarled as the woman left to kneel next to both children.

"Setsuka. We'll have to attend to that scrape."

"_Mama..._" it was amazing, the complaint communicated in a single word.

"No buts. Ryuusei, you stay with Mr Barton. Try to talk in English, Mr Barton can't understand."

Ryuusei scowled as mother and daughter left, before he reached for the cup with the dead fish. "Hey, you're not supposed to touch that." Clint intervened, despite knowing that the boy seemed smarter than to eat the thing.

Ryuusei looked around, before giving a small _this secret is between us _smile followed by the universal gesture of finger to lips to indicate silence. He then concentrated on staring at the fish. Whatever it was, the air itself seemed to warm immediately even in the air-conditioned space.

"_Ryuusei_!" Ryuusei dropped the cup at Diana's order, and looked sheepish as Clint barely managed to catch it in mid-air. The boy was still smiling as Diana dragged him away by his ear, Clint staring at the tiny fish swimming around the tiny plastic vessel.

It looked awfully alive for a dead fish, was Clint's thought.


	5. Chapter 5

"Wow, apparently the secret to burying Stane forever is in a _magic card game_," was Tony's conclusion.

"The man's not a hack, at least," Bruce admitted.

"You can't tell me you believe him?" was the immediate reply from Natasha.

"He's a distinguished man," Fury admitted. "Brought up in an orphanage, self-taught-"

"He's self-taught and he had a Ph. D.?" Tony stared.

"Self-taught mechanics, built his own motorcycle-device thing," Fury doggedly continued. "By the way, Stark, we found that black motorcycle, it's called the Blackbird, and yes, that man that just left the room wrote the software on the damned thing."

The communicator clipped to Fury's belt beeped. "Director, an outgoing call is being made on a Stark Tower land-line by Dr Fudo."

"Jarvis!" Tony snapped.

"Understood, sir."

The voice recording came on, with conveniently placed scrolling subtitles in the resulting holographic projection seemingly favoured by Stark Industries.

"_Yusei?_"

"_Jack, finally. Your manager is persistent._"

"_Temp job. You're in New York, right?_"

"_Long story. You?_"

"_Me and Crow both,_" Jack sounded tired, even through the language was different. "_We've been facing people with weird powers for a while. Is Hunter okay?_"

"_Diana-san thinks that the Arcadia Movement in North America might be splitting. What's this about getting attacked? Jack, please report this._"

"_Oh yes, I can say that I've been attacked by people able to summon monsters to destroy people,_" the sarcasm was apparent even without translation. "_The NYPD would be all over it._"

A sigh. "_Is Crow there?_"

"_Asleep. Been running from Iron Man. Yusei... could it be them? Ever since that time... could it be Yilaster?_"

"_I'm facing a man who might have risen from the dead. I think... it might be a Dark Signer. Either way, I'll to help the Avengers, but that man, he mentioned that he might be after you guys as well. Be careful, okay?_"

"_Will do- Yusei, where are you making this call from? Stark Industries, really?_"

"_Jack, grow up. Tell Crow that Aki and I said hi, and Ryuusei... he says hi too. I'll call tomorrow._"

"_Maybe when you grow old._"

_Click._

"How... homely," was the faint answer from Steve.

"Could still be a plant," Natasha pointed out.

"_Negative, Ms Romanov. The number is indeed registered to a Mr Jack Atlas, and the timbre matches his intonation._"

"It's too good to be true," Natasha stubbornly insisted as the door of the conference room slammed open.

All the Avengers present turned to see Clint, holding a cheap paper cup that was definitely from the nearest water cooler, and babbling. "It's alive, it's alive, oh god it's alive..."

In one hand, the fish bobbed about happily in deionised water.

* * *

Diana Hunter did not look pleased as all five of them descended in the elevator of the Stark Tower. "Ryuusei..."

"It's a very small fish," the boy answered.

"That is _not_ the point," Diana groaned. "There are people who would, quite literally, kill for another chance at life, and you have zero self-preservation."

"Then why not?" was the plaintive answer. "It's possible, isn't it? I just-"

Diana sighed. "Aki, you talk to your son."

Aki considered, her amber eyes on sincere blue. "Is it bad, Mama?"

"Oh, no, it's not," Aki quietly murmured. "It's... it's a gift, Ryuusei. A worthy gift."

Behind Diana, Setsuka made a noise like a sneeze.

"It's a gift," Aki insisted. "But we shouldn't."

"Why?"

"Because..." Aki hesitated, turning to Yusei.

Yusei knelt in front of the boy. "Oh, Ryuusei. You don't even understand. It is a fact of life."

Ryuusei cocked his head. "But... I can change that."

"Yes, yes, you can," Yusei's eyes were at half-mast, though he looked close to breaking. "It would change everything. But you don't understand it, that... sometimes, it's better to leave things as they are."

"But I can help people," Ryuusei pointed out.

Diana made a noise of frustration. "Setsuka. You can get through his thick skull. You tell him."

Setsuka looked at her mother before, very slowly, turning to Ryuusei. "_People will want another chance at life. Even if it means that they must attack Dr and Mrs Fudo for it._"

Ryuusei abruptly paled before he was snatched into a tight hug from Aki. "T- That's... that's just cruel, Setsuka!" Aki protested.

"_It is true._"

Diana just shook her head. "Setsuka, you could... okay, you couldn't have stated it more bluntly. You're going to have a way with boys in the future."

"Thank you."

Diana's smile was wry. "I didn't say it was a good way." The smile then dropped. "And we're pulling double-time for that."

* * *

"Why are we investigating the Arcadia Movement?" Tony frowned the moment the Avengers had left the Tower with Fury. "Okay, I get that my very presence is critical to getting in, but why?"

"Because Stane is likely to recruit from people who can play the game, and play it to hurt," Fury snorted. "Far as I can guess, the Movement's run a bit like Xavier's Institute. Which means trained personnel. Which means a shit-load of people Stane can recruit."

"A good reasoning, man of the Kindly Ones," Thor boomed. "Doubtless, our enemy may choose amongst these _seidmadr_ as potential allies."

"The Kindly Ones?" Clint scoffed. "I fail to relate."

"The Eumenides, the Erinyes... the Furies," Thor finally hit upon once their ride managed to get through Little Italy. "They are avengers, are they not?"

"For the man who created the Avengers Initiative... okay, that was passable," Tony gave in as the huge Hummer stopped before a building at the juncture of Chinatown and Little Italy around Lower Manhattan. That was the first time they saw the building itself.

'A huge monolith' would have been sufficient to describe it; the outside was black rock, rather than the result of New York pollution, and sufficiently isolated. Given the state of the city's space, the isolation was perhaps a mark of _something._

"Nice," Tony muttered as he swung his legs out, followed by Steve, Clint, Natasha, Fury and Thor, Bruce having elected to stay 'where there isn't any chance of panicking happening'. "Shall we?"

"I cannot enter," Thor declared the moment they even approached the front. "The sacred _galdr_ placed will not allow my presence."

"Mystical mumbo jumbo again?" was Tony's sarcastic comment.

"This is no ordinary _galdr_," was the grave reply. "It is carved into the very foundations of the building itself, forbidding beings of spirit, and beings between spirit and flesh, to enter."

"Can you break in?" Fury asked.

"I would receive a curse upon myself, and upon thy comrades; no," came the weary reply. "Doubtless, were my brother here the Liesmith would have found a way, but being _seidmadr_ himself he would not risk it. We require a more delicate hand than my own at the mystic arts to even begin."

"So there's real magic involved," Natasha nodded. "But... wait, this is a _human_ establishment."

Thor looked surprised. "Midgard has been home to many forms of _seid_ and _galdr_ since even before the last age of worship. After all, there are the frost and flame giants, the light and dark elves, the dwarven kind and the cold underworld." The demigod turned back to study the place, as if he were seeing something that only he could in the building's face. "I cannot enter, but beings of flesh, that is, you, my comrades, may. Though I suspect that they will employ their own forms of security to prevent ingress."

"Barton, Romanov, go in another way," Fury barked. "Thor, you sure you can't fly in?"

"Such things are applied from the sky to the earth," was the prompt reply as Thor knelt to study the ground. "See, we are already on the edge of the wards."

They all followed, seeing only concrete before Tony pulled a tiny camera cum magnifying glass, and then a pattern emerged, a complex series of scratchings and symbols etched in and covered slightly with chalk. The pattern ran in a spiral out, through the Avengers hardly moved.

Thor pointed, reading each rune. "_Fehu_, for beginnings. _Thurisaz_, to fight and find peace in battle. _Kenaz_, the rune of knowledge. _Algiz_, to ward against fear. _Gebo_, a sacred tie, a gift in exchange. _Teiwaz_, sacrifice to a higher self. _Raidho_, journey being the destination. _Nauthiz_, necessity. _Eihwaz_, the road is lonely and there is no end. _Perthro_, for luck and fate being with them. There are more and more layers within, and not enough time."

"So, very serious magic-only protection," Steve nodded. "So Thor will have to keep a lookout."

"These things actually have power?" Fury looked sceptical.

"There's a few more, but they look different," Clint pulled out a scope to check the nearest wall. "More... straight lines."

"Your _seid_ is involved by using the power of language. It would not be strange for more than one system to be employed." Thor hissed. "My brother, he would have marvelled, I think."

"So we need a magician, great," Fury sighed. "What are the odds? I thought it was all sufficiently advanced technology."

"Verily, it is never that simple," Thor agreed, stepping back as the other Avengers present made to enter. Fury, by dint of being Nick Fury, led the team through the frosted-glass front doors into a clean foyer, where there was a large, forbidding desk complete with a harried dark-haired secretary.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Mrs Waller, but Lake is rather occupied. Yes, rest assured that we will give him your message. Have a nice day." The phone dropped into the cradle, the girl then turned to all three men, hardly alarmed despite being under Nick Fury's stare and in fact greeting with a smile. "Good afternoon, gentlemen, and welcome to the North United States Arcadia Movement. My name is Lins, and how may we assist you today?"

There was something to be said about the too-friendly smiles of customer service that all three men stopped. Well, Steve did, and so did Tony. Fury ignored both of them. "I'd like to see the head of this place."

"Please wait a moment." Lins plucked the phone – an updated switchboard-type, Stark Industries – and clicked a button. Beside it, the LED flashed green. "Lake? Oh, Rick. Where's our fearless leader? Fish him out of the vents, we have government types coming here and the Madame said not to be disturbed." _Click_, and Lins was smiling once more. "Please follow me?"

"I'm quite sure I requested the head, and not anyone else," Fury pressed.

"The Madame is occupied at the moment," Her smile never wavered, though her pupils seemed flat and wary as she pulled out a small map. "Lake Waller is the next-in-charge, and overall in-charge when the Madame is not in the United States. Fiftieth floor. I'd escort you, but..."

"I can do it." From the lobby was a familiar face. "Mr Stark. Captain America. Director Fury."

"You're here too?" Steve asked in surprise.

"My son," Yusei shrugged. "I can take over from here, Lins."

"Thank you, Dr Fudo." the girl gave a genuine smile for once.

"One building only?" Fury asked as they were led further into the building.

"We have another branch in Los Angeles, and that plus this building plus headquarters in Vancouver is the most of the Arcadia Movement's presence in North America." Yusei promptly answered. "I was invited mostly in a consultative capacity."

"I thought this Movement was registered as a social movement," Tony pointed out. "Not much use for a physicist."

"A moral consultative capacity," Yusei corrected. "Diana is well-meaning, but she admits that she sometimes doesn't know when to draw a line. You remember that case with mutants and the Brotherhood against the X-Men?"

Fury's jaw twitched. "Yes. So what, you're Xavier to her Magneto? Not your wife?"

"Aki is also onboard," was the dry answer. "Diana... Diana has almost zero moral scruples. That's why we have to act as her conscience. Otherwise... we work with children. Bad things might happen."

"There's no one around," Steve considered.

"Lins is a member as well," Yusei answered as they entered the elevator, which seemed to be wider than normal and eschewed luxury in favour of space. "Most of the people working in this building is either mutant, pro-mutant, or Psychic Duelist. Since the mutant rights and Psychic Duelists' rights groups tend to intersect often, we get along well enough."

"So Psychic Duelists, whatever that is, is a specific form of mutation?" Tony asked.

Yusei's face scrunched up. "Well... I met Professor Charles Xavier about a decade back. It was an accident, involving a dragon and... a mutual friend. He said that it was a matter of control. Mind and body, working in harmony, it's not physiological. There is a definite mental discipline involved, but... the mind is not involved. It's pure emotion, willing the world what they wanted it to be."

"And your thesis was on the large-scale effects of human emotion upon matter," Tony's voice was flat.

"Excuse me?" Steve blinked.

"Basically, the theoretical consequences of wishes upon reality itself." Yusei nodded. "It's... have you ever wanted something to happen, so much, and then it actually did happen? It's a basic desire."

Outside, Thor continued to peer at the runes, reading and tracing the lines that dictated the boundaries.

_"Mannaz__," he whispered. "Awakening."_

_We are each a saviour, each a god. It is the fear of what this means which binds us to the realm of humankind._

...ᚠᚦᚲᛉᚷᛏᚱᚾᛖᛈᚨᛗᛒ...

* * *

Clint Barton was stealing through the metal vents of the building. Instead of being riddled with dust, Clint grimaced at the relative cleanliness of the vents – which meant that more than one person were crawling through them ninja-style. Judging by the uniform use of all the vents Natasha and he had been through so far, people climbing through the vents seemed to be a regular occurrence.

More lines were running through the places, slashed and dotted and notched in some weird pattern, and if Clint were the paranoid sort, maybe he would have imagined something like a tripwire or an electric hum running through the _words_ itself. As it were, they were seriously creepy.

Not as creepy as the target was going to be...

"Clint?" Natasha's hiss broke through his reverie. "You haven't given Fury any lip for this mission."

"'Tasha, you're getting unprofessional."

_"_No one's around," the Black Widow dismissively replied. "Clint. Is this about the fish?"

"No."

"Clint. You know that Coulson's-"

"Leave it, 'Tasha," Clint growled. "Please."

"Clint, stop this. Coulson is-" Natasha broke off as rustling sounded.

The vents creaked. Leaves began poking through the grille. Clint had a moment of panic that somehow the plants were after Natasha and him, and unlocked his wrist-bow. No good for the usual bow; no space anyway.

A rose bloomed in quick-motion, as if Clint was watching three days' work over the period of five minutes. Up close, the thorns were apparent, and wickedly sharp. The rose was black, blacker than should be possible with nature.

"Hello. Can you come down?"

Kicking it open, Clint dropped out and landed on the clean floor. A heartbeat later, Natasha followed, and the reason was clear as a thorny bush grew where she had been a few moment ago.

Ryuusei stoically stared at them.

In a room approximately large enough to fit two tennis courts side by side, Ryuusei was the only person inside, seated cross-legged by a row of tables. The reason had been clear; the place had been transformed into some form of hothouse, complete with plants. It bore the wear of regular use, and probably amateur gardening as well. Now, thorned vines bearing black flowers and wicked thorns lined the walls, and somehow there was a nasty feeling that the garden would leap to defend the child if either master assassin tried anything funny.

"That looks awful," Clint stared at the plant on the table. Instead of being healthy, the plant was clearly wilting, parts of its leaves yellowed and blotchy.

"It is." Ryuusei absently replied.

"You..." Clint shifted. "The fish is safe."

"I know."

"Clint," Natasha sighed, turning to Ryuusei. "Kid, why are you here?"

Ryuusei glanced at both of them. "I don't know how to say."

Natasha paused. "Okay, then. How old are you?"

"Seven."

"Jesus," Clint swore. "Barely a toddler. Do you know English?"

"Not much."

"Okay... why are you here?" Clint proposed.

"Power."Ryuusei pointed to the vines, the plant, and to the thorny streams of living plant streaming from the nearest vent. Despite the admittedly limited communication skills of a seven-year-old, the message was passed across.

"Okay," Natasha nodded with reasonable alacrity. "So... you're a mutant?"

"No," Ryuusei shook his head, pulling a deck out of his pocket before pulling a card. Dandylion. "Psychic Duelist."

A sharp knock, and a clickas the door opened. "Ryuusei, Mama said-" the dark-haired girl paused staringat the sight of both Avengers. "Oh."

"We should move." Natasha slowly concluded.

"But, 'Tasha, this might be our only chance-"

"Clint, give up. If the kid was so powerful then-"

"You're here to kidnap Ryuusei." the girl spoke, as if finally realising something.

"No! You've got it-"

The girl moves, drawing a card, and then the air grew cold as ice crystals gathered on the nearest plants and both Avengers throw themselves out of the way of the resulting shower of hail. With surprising alacrity, Ryuusei had moved to stand between them, keeping the Avengers away from the surprisingly dangerous little girl.

Vines grow to hold off the next shower of ice that freeze over, before the boy goes down under her foot and the girl is already moving, a gleaming sphere in her hand that she aims at Natasha and fires it. The Black Widow dances away from as the area around it freezes.

"Oh God," Clint swore as a real dragon, a mighty icy beast shaped like a serpent and floating above-head, appears by the girl. "More monsters."


	6. Chapter 6

The explosion rocked the building. Technically, it was not an explosion as much as the beginning of a storm, as much as the air turned cold and then warm at the same time.

Diana Hunter paused in the middle of greeting the Avengers and retaliating to Tony's flirting.

"What was that?" Less distracted by the grand dame that Diana was shaping out to be, Steve cocked his head. "Could it be Stane?"

"That's..." Diana frowned, displaying a remarkable gift for prescience as she shook her head and making no reference to the runes. "It couldn't be. Lins would be on hand."

"Do you usually teach your daughter to attack first?" Natasha asked quietly.

"No," was the flippant reply. "That was residual from the first few kidnappers. She did pull her punches this time."

"Yeah, ow," Clint snapped. "She moves... really well. Like a pro. Don't think she'd hesitate to kill me."

"What makes you think she would?" Diana's face was carefully innocent.

Yusei sighed. "That's _murder_, Diana."

Diana looked like she might have wanted to argue otherwise, but one look at Fury and she shrugged. "Nicholas. Natalia."

There was a pause before Fury scowled. "Director Fury, ma'am."

"But it's so much fun to remind you," was the easy reply.

"Is this me, or did she choose to open this conversation with a Santa Claus joke?" Clint muttered.

"I didn't know... Ma'am," Fury decided to change the subject. "We think Stane might be after your organisation."

"An excellent thought," Diana acknowledged. "And surely that is not the only purpose. You've seen the result of... an accidental altercation. The Arcadia Movement was founded first as a safe haven for Psychic Duelists, initially set up with Neo Domino City as its main base. After its first leader died, I bought the building and expanded its operations. We're only approximately four years in business, but mostly I think we try."

"Look, here's something I wanna ask," Tony leaned forward. "Is it magic, what you guys do, in which case then it's just a sufficiently advanced power, or it is science, in which it becomes the Xavier Institute's problem?"

"We steer clear of factional trouble between the Xavier Institute, Friends of Humanity and the Brotherhood," was the automatic answer. "We may run help programmes for mutants, but that's mainly for convenience. Our main focus is, and has always been, on Psychic Duelists, especially the younger age groups. But I don't think that frankly, the workings of a small social organisation has any relevance to you, does it?" This was delivered with a smile just a shade shy of openly mocking. To Fury.

Excuse the Avengers while they boggle.

"It is _relevant_ when national security is involved," Fury patiently said. "When kids barely grown can summon dragons that can take down some of the best agents I have, that's important!"

"Anyone can work with the element of surprise, Director." Diana argued. "It just means that your agents need more... out-of-the-ordinary situations."

"I still have your arrest records, Hunter," Fury did not look pleased.

"And I still have your full name," was the reply without missing a beat.

A basso roar echoed, followed by another, more high-pitched one.

"Okay, let's see to the kids now."

* * *

"We don't get paid enough to deal with monsters and magic," Natasha swore at the next barrage of ice chips. Instead of the large chunks of ice that functioned like cannonballs, it was a lot like fighting in a snowstorm, the tiny particles grinding down on endurance and focusing on confusing the enemy. Whether accidental or deliberate, it proved that at least one person was of the shoot first, ask questions later variety.

"Speak for yourself!" Clint aimed an electric arrow and fired. Whatever it was, the girl merely held up a hand in a single motion and the arrow disappeared into a small dimensional cavity that winked out of existence–

–appearing right behind Natasha as the projectile hit right between the shoulder blades. A fizz followed before the Black Widow keeled over.

"'Tasha!" Clint screamed.

Another movement, before the dragon loomed, and a blast of ice narrowly impaled the Hawkeye.

"Shimotsuki!" Ryuusei was yelling as the plants froze as well in the resulting damage.

The dragon's front claw hooked through the quiver's straps, and then Clint Barton found himself suspended away from his bow. One smash on the floor disoriented him before he found himself facing the girl, Shimotsuki. Shimotsuki Setsuka, he reminded himself.

"Who sent you?" the girl spoke, her voice accented.

Clint internally reeled. Child soldiers tended to lack moral scruples such as that murder should not happen. From the look in this particular girl, she would probably freeze him and leave him to hypothermia without turning a hair. The only thing was that the training process tended to be classed as a form of abuse sometimes.

The dragon growled, and made to slam him again before a bunch of vines twined around his middle and he was snatched out of the snowy white dragon's was by the side of the large black dragon, and handed Clint's bow back with the ginger air of someone holding explosives. On the ground, Natasha began to stir.

"We're not enemies, I swear!" Clint raised both hands up. The two children began a shouting match in Japanese, babbling faster than he could probably comprehend.

"Someone get the serial number off that tank..." Natasha groaned as she slowly began to get up. "Clint, where were you aiming?"

"Not my fault my arrow disappeared!"

Then another monster, this one resembling a young woman decked out in ice armour, conjured a number of ridiculously large snowflakes that jumped to stick on Clint and Natasha. The dragon roared, and then they were pinned down. The shouting match ceased abruptly, and Ryuusei made a motion with his hands, the vines rustling threateningly in tandem.

Clint was starting to get the idea of their argument when the next blast went straight for him, and was warded off by dint of a shimmering wall of thorned plants.

"What is going on- oh, empty night," a woman's voice rang out. "Setsuka, the ice. Ryuusei, you can stop now."

Identical scowls appeared on young faces as they stepped back, the dragons growling onto with a modicum of hostility before fading again, and the two Avengers found themselves face-to-face not only with an amused Diana Hunter and a stunned Yusei Fudo, but also with Captain America, Iron Man, and Nick Fury all in civvies. Tony looked awed, Steve shocked, and Fury considering.

Behind the quartet was a teenage boy with a shock of orange hair, definitely paler. "I'm so sorry, Madame, I didn't know that there were burglars-"

"Hey!" Clint protested.

"-and that they trashed the place," the teenager finished.

"Rick, get someone to clean up the hothouse," Diana concluded briskly. "Ryuusei, Setsuka, with me. Aki is finished with her examination for now, the both of you follow her."

Twin scowls followed as the two children meandered behind like ducklings, very dangerous ducklings, and the Avengers, careful to put themselves with Diana between the Avengers and Director Fury. Mostly away from Director Fury and his studious gaze.

The two children spoke the moment they approached what looked like an infirmary, the air sterile and smelling faintly of bleach and rubbing alcohol. Diana gave a crisp reply and a hug, Yusei nodded, gave a pat on the head, and a few more words such that the entire exchange sounded like Sorry Dad It's okay son don't do it again. It was bizarrely domestic, and the contrast didn't fail to jar when they were led into a lounge room and the door closed. And locked. And more.

A negligent wave towards the chairs opened an immediate invitation to sit. "Has the Arcadia Movement done something to threaten national security, Director? Please note that the definitions of national security do indeed include the protection of rights to all citizens, of which I still all respects, we are outstandingly talented human beings."

"I have SHIELD helicopters."

"And I have magic. Which also includes their equivalent of a nuclear bomb. I think we're quite even, Nicholas."

"_Fury_," Fury growled. "Or Director. You do not use my first name."

The woman was unrepentantly unimpressed. "Of course. You hate Christmas."

Fury groaned. "Oh for the love of- never mind."

"You know each other?" Tony spoke up, staring at her.

"You're a public menace, Hunter, and don't you dare answer him," Fury growled.

"I ran a securities company, Director."

"Yes. And then somehow managed to bleed eight senators out. Not to mention-"

"I bleed a lot of people out, Director. I did work at the IRS once on an internship."

"A tax-woman, that's scarier," Tony nodded.

"I try," Diana turned to consider the rest. "Clinton Francis Barton, _there_ you are."

"I don't know you." Clint gulped.

"_Francis_?" Tony mouthed.

"Hunter Securities," Diana continued. "We had an agreement."

"Oh god. You're _that_ Hunter?"

"I'm glad we understand each other. Truly, I am." Diana cast a look at Tony. "And you have no right to laugh, Anthony Edward Stark."

"Hey!"

Steve looked nervous. "Erm... why are you speaking our full names?"

"To make one thing very clear, Steven Grant Rogers." Diana gave a small smile, not unlike Natasha's killing-intent smile. "That I _know._"

The tone really did a number, that perhaps she did _know_, whatever she knew. Tony coughed. "And Fury?"

Fury started. "Don't you dare-"

"Joseph."

"Oh, now that's _rich_." Tony looked like he was laughing.

Natasha coughed. "You don't know mine."

Blue eyes bored at the red-haired assassin. "Natalia Alianovna Romanova."

A knife was in her hand before long. Their gazes never wavered. "How?"

Diana just stared back. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."

By the side, Yusei just took one hand, and face-palmed before the windows broke open.

* * *

"_How long more?_"

Aki glanced at the two bored children. Having exhausted all options in entertaining small children, the doctor was quite exhausted.

"_Mama, can we please go out?_" Ryuusei pouted. The pout should have been classed as a nuclear weapon. "_I'm tired of training._"

Aki looked from the previously dying plant that was now healthier, and then, very discreetly to where Setsuka was playing with a block of ice and an ice-pick. Perhaps playing was stretching the definition; no six-year-old should be wielding an ice-pick so proficiently, tapping with the concentration due and pointing here and there. Aki pointedly ignored the ice shards that refused to melt littering the table.

"_If you're so bored you can handle the guys outside,_" Setsuka pointed towards the windows at the same time where lightning streaked straight down.

Then the power went out. Mother and son stiffened.

Very methodically, Setsuka placed the half-finished ice sculpture that actually just looked like a block that had too many holes into a waiting ice-box, cleaned up the newspaper tidily, and pocketed the pick before getting up as emergency power kicked in. "_Evacuation orders._"

"R- Right," Aki nodded, glancing at the nearest emergency maps before taking the children towards the stairs. Around them, people of all backgrounds, colours and type were at quiet work, some led off to the nearest emergency exits, some to the windows, and Aki nearly shouted when one jumped out of the nearest window.

Glass shattered and a roar echoed.

Aki reacted first. "Violet Witch!"

Though her own power was still raw, the purple-robed spell-caster immediately flung a blast at the creature, which squealed and shattered at the same time a dragon with a nose to rival a spearfish charged through.

Setsuka lifted both hands, and ice crystallised the beast in a suitable stance before the witch smashed through.

Ryuusei was more inventive. "Black Garden!" At his command a thousand vines broke through the earth. Black thorny branches lengthened, dancing as they climbed on walls and ceiling and floor, weaving in and out of each other's path. Green leaves sprouted from the branches and flowers bloomed, every blossom the size of a child's fist and black and gleaming as the starry night, waving and nodding in the breeze that followed. The vines spread at either end, clinging onto fantastic draconic creatures as it strangled the life out of them, to half their ability.

Aki remembered the words of the seer. _Our children are bound._ _It is sad, their fate. One will lack in love throughout her life, and be harsher yet kinder for it. The other will have no lack of love, and yet his kindness will be all the harsher for it._

Outside, the Psychic Duelists of the Arcadia Movement geared up. "Hear, hear!" Rick called through the intercom. "This is code-name Ally of Justice calling all points. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. Ninja, wherever the hell you are in the vents, get out and start escorting non-combatants to the exits. You have permission to do any number of stunts for this. Serenity, open central command, see whether we can render assistance to the Avenger outside while beginning coordination. Nebula, keep support watch out, prepare to take over Serenity in the case of breach. All others, get those dragons the hell away from our home! Respond!"

"_Over!_" The cry echoed as people ran into action.

At the same time, in a different part of the building, Iron Man punched the dragon out. Steve flung a smaller creature bodily from the place. Fury drew a gun, Natasha her Widow's Bites, Clint his bow, and Yusei the nearest DuelDisk at hand.

Diana drew a card. "Raigeki."

A blitz of lightning answered from the oncoming storm as outside, Thor bellowed, and the dragons were fried. Flesh shattered and burned under the vicious barrage before Diana had even snapped her case open into a plate.

"Okay, now it's personal," Diana snarled as all one-six-five be-suited woman took a march for the door. "Activate Continuous Spells Recycle, Spell Absorption and Mage Power, followed by Normal Spell Magical Blast."

The violet blast impacted in the face of the lizard she flung it at the moment she wrenched the portal open. Behind her, Yusei followed, an umbrella at hand. Clint let fly an arrow, Tony a few repulsor blasts, Natasha a kick and a Widow's Bite, and Fury... well, Fury punched one before opening a clip, because he was Nick Fury.

"If that guy has an Earthquake or a Monster Reborn I will kill something and eat the body," Diana cursed as she punched one dragon without caring so much.

Steve paused from where he had 'borrowed' a door to slam at two more dragons. "How did you-"

"Cheated." Diana lifted the plate-device glowing on her left hand. "Usually equip spells are used on monsters, but that could mean almost anything on the field. It only took a bit of creative interpretation to mean _me_."

"A bit of help, if you don't mind," Yusei's voice was dry as he stabbed a dragon through the eye and threw it out briskly before he was hounded upon by two more darker-scaled ones.

Tony punched, kicked and blasted. "This is so damned weird."

A machine that looked vaguely like something out of an Escher painting gripped one that was going for Captain America and squished. One dragon shattered. "Next time stay around for the time we got flooded," Rick quipped, saluting to Diana. "Madame, all the guys not fighting in the building have been evacuated, defenestrated with little to no injury, or just out. All others are now fighting the horde of dragons outside, and the Avenger Thor is handling the main party."

Yusei squinted. "There's no geoglyph, so it's not up yet."

"Just outside public property," Diana sighed at the approximate location of the next sky-to-ground bolt. "Whereabouts of them?"

"Just outside the private property, round the Bowery." Rick made a face.

Diana nodded, turning to Fury. "Well, gentlemen, this is time to prove the worth of your taxpayer dollars for national security."

A scream ripped from above as two dragons fell, still feebly struggling in thorny vines. More vines crept down from above, thorns anchoring firmly into the window-frame.

"_Papa_!" Ryuusei waved.

The Avengers stared. Not at Yusei's tired expression, but at that there was a huge, flowery dragon outside, and the boy was standing on it. It did not apparently return the sentiment; its thorned black vines dug into the building face, anchoring the dragon in a position it would otherwise have to defy the laws of physics to maintain, and it growled and snapped at everyone save the Fudo family.

"Shh, Black Rose," Aki murmured as she climbed down the array of wickedly sharp vines, her expression vaguely concentrating. "They are not our enemies."

"What... how..." Steve looked taken aback.

"Please clear the dragon," a voice snapped, and the Avengers hurriedly moved to provide landing space for Aki and the two children. Diana pulled her daughter into a hug as a dragon crashed in-

"I got it." An ice pick was pulled out before the dragon keeled back and fell out. Idly, Setsuka wiped the ice pick on the nearest vine, because every child apparently had no problem with pulling sharp implements on monsters given half a chance.

Even the Black Widow paused half a fraction at that.


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay, ladies and gents," Fury decided, because apparently there were a horde more monsters that were dealing with the dragons swarming the face of the building. "What can you tell me?"

"They're over there," Diana pointed down towards the Bowery, where a bolt of lightning punctuated her point. "Rick mentioned that Thor was handling the problem, but... why here?"

"Bad news," Tony broke in, the Iron Man's computerised clarity at odds. "Pepper just called. Stark Tower is being broken into at the same time. Bruce is running himself ragged trying to contain the dragons with minimal property damage and casualties."

"Two places at once?" Fury echoed.

"Flunkies," Diana wrinkled her nose. "There's more than one faction of Psychic Duelists that won't mind attacking the Arcadia Movement. And apparently this one is too dumb to live."

"He's going for the power source," Yusei spoke, eyes wide.

Aki cursed under her breath. "Of course. Where else?"

"We need to get to Stark Tower," Steve broke in. "Erm, could you-"

"The Movement's Psychics have been trained," Diana answered. "Unlike these people who are obviously slinging pure power without control, I do teach economy of energy. We will outlast them. Yusei, Aki, please navigate the Avengers to Stark Tower. Director Fury, I will require your assistance."

Yusei looked back from where he had smashed his umbrella over the head of a particularly disgusting dragon. "Excuse me?"

"They are civilians!" Fury hotly protested. "And how the hell did you assemble a civilian armed force, dammit!"

"With all respect, Director, shut up." Diana pointed at him. "Captain?"

"Clint and Natasha can't fly," was Steve's automatic response. "It'll take a bit to move across Manhattan-"

A vine snapped at his feet as the Black Rose Dragon spread its wings.

Clint whistled. "Dibs on the dragon."

* * *

A tempest starts when Thor takes to the skies, Mjollnir extended and flying beside the Black Rose Dragon. It sounded awfully like laughter and screaming.

"The Valkyries will have a fine harvest this battle," Thor remarked loudly. "And a fine steed you have, Eyes of Hawk and Black Widow."

The Black Rose Dragon was actually much smaller than its petal-size suggested. Clint and Natasha were straddling its back, Aki closest to its neck, and Tony had a grip with Steve and Yusei on either arm, and was cracking too many 'one on each arm' jokes to be entirely comfortable.

"Okay, Stane is most likely going to use the arc reactor and its high-energy density to reach for the Earthbound Gods." Yusei was saying. "It's... well, I need you to take it at face value for the moment, but apparently there's another dimension where Duel Monsters are real. That is, everything. And that's where Stane might reach. If the Earthbound God is summoned here, it's going to require sacrifices, lots of sacrifices, and they're going to be the souls of New York's people. Roughly eight million."

"So we gotta stop Stane again before the big bad god comes," Tony's disgust and hate was unable to be filtered out. "Maybe we could introduce him to Bruce's green friend."

"That might be difficult," was the mild reply.

"I seem to have left my quarry still mobile," Thor boomed. "Will our allies manage?"

"With Fury? They'll be able to kick the ass out of _anything_," Tony snickered as they neared the Stark Tower and an explosion rang out. There were monsters about, skeletal and lethal.

"Zombies," Yusei observed. "Or Undead, as we call them in Japan."

Shadows were draining from the skeletal beasts, blue-rainbow light winking out of empty skulls. One by one, the zombie monsters collapsed in a cloud of dust and violet as the Avengers approached.

"Um... that would be a good thing, right?" Steve asked, as they landed. _Please tell me I'm right? Please?_

"No." Yusei's voice was flat. "They're being sacrificed."

An ogre in a blue chef's outfit appeared, sizzling shadows in his skillet as rough laughter filled the room. He flourished a spatula with a fanged smile, flipping a giant shadowy patty that grew and floated and gathered lettuce, tomatoes, and a bloody bun about itself.

"Hamburger Recipe?" Aki groaned once the Black Rose descended and the three hurriedly dismounted. "Used to summon..."

The ogre vanished with a tip of his puffy hat. The blood-smeared bun sprouted fangs, and the snarling creation bounced towards them. Clint automatically nocked an arrow and fired.

"Hungry Burger." Yusei finished. "Oh, my."

Tony looked down just in time to see a man-sized, toothy burger bouncing on the roof of his building. "Never mind why! A man-eating _hamburger?_ What kind of a sick game is this? And where the hell is Stane?"

"Right here."

Tony staggered slightly under the assault from the dragon's full-body slam. Astride it, Stane cackled. "Hello, Tony. Yes, I was dead. I got better. Now I'm repaying the favour with interest. But first..." Raising a hand, more dragons swarmed the Avengers and Aki, the Black Rose Dragon keening with rage and shock.

As the fighters were occupied, Yusei stared into the face of the golden dragon. "Felgrand Dragon. Eight-star, Light Attribute, Dragon-Type. Twenty-eight hundred attack, twenty-six hundred defence. For just me?"

Stane chuckled. "Let's face it, I have no way around a straight Duel with you. The Earthbound Gods spoke of you, you know. The Signer who proved that bonds would defy the will of destiny. I didn't know, or care, I just agreed." he shrugged. "Eat or be eaten, I always said. You know, I honestly thought that either Atlas or Hogan would have gone for help. I didn't expect _you._"

"I've been out of the pro scenes for a while," was the dry reply. "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

"I'm dead," Stane shrugged, grinning. "This power, it's miraculous. Certainly better than Tony's little armour, anyway. Even if I don't believe in magic... well, resurrection makes people into believers." Waving a hand at the horde of dragons, which Clint and Natasha were shooting, Thor and Steve were smashing through, and Tony was being surrounded by, the resurrected man grinned. "The world is my oyster, and I'm going to take it all."

Golden fire gathered in the dragon's maw as it screamed, and Yusei dodged the blast.

"Get away from my husband, bastard."

There was a scream of rage, even more potent as the Avengers and the dragons seemed to evade. Red wings flared, Black Rose Dragon arriving in a storm of petals, like some horror ever seen or even dreamed of in his blackest nightmares, like watching an earthquake or staring into an oncoming hurricane. All were frozen in fear and awe by the unimaginable destructive potential and the prospect of certain death in the face of the dragon. Petals flew and slit, and where they touched the dragons died and wilted as if in the face of some plague of judgement. Glass, brick, mortar and concrete shattered in the oncoming storm, and even Captain America's shield was scored through.

"Mother of God," Clint swore as the Avengers moved to place themselves behind Steve and Thor.

"No, it is a natural storm," Thor bellowed. Downstairs, the Hulk's bellow raged. "A storm that brings destruction.

A thud echoed as Steve realised that Yusei had been blown to impact against his shield.

"Black Rose Dragon's effect," the scientist rasped. In both hands, he was clinging to Tony suit of armour. "When Synchro summoned, the controller may choose to destroy all cards on the field."

"Translation!" Tony yelled.

"This tower. Stane. The dragons. Maybe most of the city. Aki. Us. All destroyed." Yusei flatly replied. "Aki can do it. In Duel Monsters, we call effects like this field nukes."

"Okay. That sums everything up." Tony nodded. "Now would be the time to play some handy-dandy card to _save our lives_."

Violet erupted in light, a glitter of gold and diamond-blue and crystalline wings. A dragon shaped from the purest of crystals soared free, white fire building in its jaws before it was swallowed and ripped apart by the storm.

"Hyozanryu," Yusei observed. "Doubtless, monsters cannot protect from the Black Rose Dragon's wrath. But..."

"What's that?" Tony muttered as Yusei hurriedly unpacked a device fished from his lab coat.

"Aki is still using her DuelDisk," Yusei answered. "If I can find her DuelDisk, I can challenge it. Even if her powers can be manifested outside of a Duel, it still has to obey the rules of Duel Monsters, meaning that I can counter it."

The device beeped. "Got it," Yusei sounded relieved. "Starlight Road."

Somewhere in the distance, part of him tried to believe this was impossible. In the game, Stardust was a Synchro monster, an eight-star at that. In the game, he would need to offer eight levels of monsters, including tuner monster, to call it out.

This was not a game. And the cards had failed him.

It was slow, at first. Glitter that rained from the sky as Thor called lightning, stardust that mixed with the black petals, a shower of black and white that slowed and died as the winds calmed. Overcast clouds gave the skies over the Stark Tower an aura of shrouded shadow, lit by hope and wishes.

Stane cackled madly, fiery lava roared, searing at the Black Rose, such that he never noticed it.

"Starlight Road can also special summon from the Extra Deck Stardust Dragon," Yusei finished quietly as it streaked across the lightning-split sky, light made flesh and scales and silver-white wings. Rage and love and fierce joy in power echoed as it flew, a single round at the apex of the Stark Tower before it slowed, gracefully settling.

"Wow," Clint spoke.

For a moment the black and the white dragon twined their necks and nuzzled, pulling close in an affectionate embrace. Then the two reptilian faces moved to Stane.

The former businessman did not look good. His clothes were shredded, and he was bleeding from several cuts. There was the sudden fear, the recognition of what was coming in his eyes.

"It breaks something inside you." Aki distantly echoed. "Deciding your life is worth more than theirs. Choosing to kill them, rather than let them kill you. Choosing to win, whatever the cost. But I won't lift a hand, except to leave you here, at the mercy of the Avengers. And they are going to avenge all the casualties you caused. You placed my son in mortal peril, be glad that you'll live. Not for long, but you will."

"No..." feebly the man tried to run.

The black robe Stane had on gave no protection against the thorns of Black Rose, and they sheared through it like cardboard. From all directions, thorns struck dozens of times in only a few seconds, splashing scarlet blood into the air, flaying the skin alive.

Stane's arm began to blacken and crumble, the man watching in horror and pain before he clawed his way to Yusei, reaching for the throat-

_Bang._

Coulson's expression was grim as he held the smoking gun that just spattered the remains of Stane's head out. "You. Do not touch. My agents."

Clint stared. "I... oh my god, Coulson's alive." Then he fainted.

* * *

It was a few days after the aftermath, that Fury slapped up the newspaper photograph.

"Dragons," he spat. "Dragons outside the tower. And apparently Stardust Dragon is known worldwide, along with its black angry reptilian sibling." Located in the middle of LaGuardia Airport, Fury's rage went unnoticed in the middle of airport life.

Yusei merely took it, to give to his son. "Well, all's well that ends well."

"Quit quoting Shakespeare at me," Fury scowled.

Aki shook her head. Diana merely laughed. Setsuka was politely condescending in her looks towards Philip Coulson.

"Well, we will leave," Yusei nodded, standing as the boarding call echoed. "Until the next time, Director."

"Right..." Fury drawled as the Fudo family left first. "You're staying, are you?"

Diana smiled. It was a small, secret one.

"We could use a magician," Fury doggedly continued. Setsuka dropped a piece of the puzzle. "Someone who has some practical knowledge."

Still no reaction.

"I have records, Diana."

"My name was changed," she answered. "I have taken on a new identity. You can't find me in Japan." Diana stood. "If it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye. If not, be it his that finds it. Come along, Setsuka. We've blown up New York long enough."

So saying, mother and daughter headed for the boarding gates, leaving Fury staring. After a while, the SHIELD director swore and left.

If only he had looked back, he would have seen the poster for the Arcadia Movement fluttering somewhere.


End file.
